"I don't think I'm really a typical drummer. I've met some I couldn't keep up with," Rick Allen says modestly, but the fact is, he is in no small way responsible for Def Leppard's phenomenal success, and his triumph over a devastating disability shows what one can accomplish with talent, determination, and a positive attitude.
Four years ago, on New Year's Eve, 1984, Rick's Corvette overturned on a road near his parents' home in Sheffield, England. He lost his left arm in that accident and severely injured his right, but laying down his sticks for life simply wasn't an option. "If I couldn't play the drums again it would have destroyed me," says Rick, who kept his spirits (and the flagging ones of his disheartened bandmates) up as he devised ways to keep the beat going on.
While tapping on his hospital bed footrest and on the pedals of his wheelchair, he got the idea that became reality in the form of the electronic Simmons kit that he played in the studio and on stage--using his feet and right arm, he was able to select from an enormous menu of triggered sounds. As the revolving centerpiece of Def Leppard's in-the-round live extravaganza, Rick more than lived up to his nightly introduction: The Thunder God.
For the Leps' barefoot basher, drumming "is a great release, great exercise as well." He started out banging on the furniture as a boy and got his first kit at age 10--he pestered his mom until she agreed to pay for half, on the condition he'd stick with it (he saved for the rest). As for the noise, his parents "didn't mind too much, but every time I hit the drums the dog would howl," he laughingly recalls.
His first gig was playing for friends and neighbors in his folks' front room. "That was the first time I got the feeling of making people happy with music," he remembers. Shortly after his 15th birthday in 1978, Rick responded to a newspaper ad reading "Leppard Loses Skins." He met Joe Elliott and Steve Clark in a local club, and "hit it off right away." A decade later, Def Leppard is one of the most successful bands in rock history, and their four-years-in-the-making Hysteria LP, nearly ten times platinum at press time, has emerged as the top hard rock LP of all time. No wonder why Rick has this advise for struggling young musicians: "Don't get disillusioned," he says. "Give the whip a fair crack."
